No decision yet, but the Lehigh Valley Conference is getting closer to extending invite to six MVC schools

The LVC's constitution needs to be reworked before a formal invitation to the six MVC members can be extended.

June 21, 2013|By Keith Groller, Of The Morning Call

Friday marked the start of summer 2013, but the fall of 2014 was on the minds of Lehigh Valley Conference representatives who met at Whitehall High School to continue talks about expanding the league to include six Mountain Valley Conference schools.

At the end of the session, the LVC was one step closer to potentially inviting the six MVC schools, who will be in place in 2014-15 after Lehighton departs for the Schuylkill League after the coming school year.

The big issue on Friday was the LVC's constitution.

"We've been looking to make some amendments to our constitution which probably hasn't been changed since the league was formed in 2001," said Chris Schiffert, LVC president and Whitehall principal. "In order for us to consider any expansion or acceptance of other schools, we do need to make some changes to our constitution from how it currently reads.

"We have been working at making those changes … making clarifications and additions … for some time. Our constitution requires three full readings [of any changes] by our group before we vote on any kind of ratification and [Friday] we had our second reading."

Schiffert said that a subcommittee working on the constitution will meet again on July 15 to prepare the document for the third and final reading. And then a vote could take place by the entire league after that.

"The next regularly scheduled league meeting is in mid-August, but we are hopeful that we can call a special meeting together for the third reading and in August make some sort of a decision on expansion," Schiffert said. "Nothing has been decided, but the discussions continue."

Schiffert said there has been dialogue with schools in the Mountain Valley Conference.

"It's hard to say where everybody stands; not even everybody was there today," he said. "But it's moving in the right direction."

Jeff Sodl, the Stroudsburg principal and Mountain Valley Conference president, said he has been keeping the five other MVC schools informed of any potential invitations or proposals that are forthcoming.

"We're in wait-and-see mode," Sodl said. "There's nothing we can do now, but wait. We'll entertain the invitation if and when it comes."

Sodl said that "right now, we're a league of six and if something happens, great; if not, we have plans going forward as a league of six."

Time is getting to be of the essence. Schedules are generally completed a year in advance and it's difficult to formulate a schedule until you know who's going to be in the league.

August of 2014 when the new league would begin its operation is now just 14 months away.

"We can't wait around too long," Sodl said. "If the invitation is going to come, I hope it comes soon so that we can discuss the parameters just to entertain the invitation. So, yes, I hope it happens sooner rather than later."

Just speaking for himself, Schiffert said he "sees a lot of positives" in forming some type of bond with the MVC, and it is believed there is considerable support around the LVC for it.

"Everybody, probably in both leagues, is looking at what the benefits would be to expand and there are a lot of them," Schiffert said.

Discussions about who would be in what divisions for each sport are very premature at this point, Schiffert said.

"It's premature to discuss any aspect of the expansion before we can hammer out this constitution and say exactly what we're going to do," Schiffert said. "It all hinges on the language of this constitution."

One of the changes in the constitution reportedly being worked on is eliminating the need for a 100 percent vote to approve expansion.

As it stands now, if one school, for whatever reason, chooses to block expansion, it has the power to do so even if the other 11 want it.

One other constitutional roadblock is that, at present, any incoming school must wait two years before it can vote on league matters. Incoming schools are obviously going to balk at having to wait two years before having a say in how things are done.

The topic of the leagues coming together began with an April 26 invitation from the MVC extended to 10 LVC members — everybody except Bethlehem Catholic and Central Catholic — and Bangor and Phillipsburg.

The LVC had an emergency meeting of principals and decided to stay intact and not leave anybody behind while still considering some form of expansion or a merger with the MVC.

Schiffert said representatives from the two leagues have met and stayed in contact with each other as the process works itself out.

"There's a much clearer understanding of where everything is at," Schiffert said. "Even with me in my role, I've had the opportunity to get to know a lot more people and get a grasp of some of the intricacies that go into our high school athletic programs. As challenging as it has been, it has still been a positive experience."